From my experience with other homeschool families I have found that motivations for homeschooling are usually pretty similar. One consistent them that motivates people to homeschool is the desire to give kids a more traditional education. I am not really sure what this means because our motivation for homeschooling is to give our kids an untraditional education. By traditional I think a lot of people mean grounded in values, which is a wonderful thing, and builds excellent character.
What scares me about giving kids a so called traditional education is that it has the potential to lack the cutting edge sophistication that the modern era has to offer. I know homeschool kids in the 5th grade that are completely computer illiterate and happy to be that way. I see this as being a huge crutch that has the potential to harm theses kids later in life and severely handicap their ability to progress in an increasing technological society.
I view technology as being similar to language and that the earlier kids are exposed to certain things the more adept they become at using that technology. There are so many great opportunities to educate using technology such as the internet, different homeschool software packages, or even video games.
Our world is going through an unprecedented change at the moment that threatens to leave some folks behind if they are not willing to adapt to the times. Paper is going away, information is flowing through the internet, social networking is reshaping the way people interact. People consume information differently today than they did 10 years ago and we should not impose old ideas and ways of doing things on young minds.
The gap between the haves and have nots will continue to grow and the only thing that will allow that gap to close is knowledge and information. To get along in the new society people will need to at least have a base knowledge of computing, the internet, software, mobile communications, just to name a few.
I encourage parents of home schoolers to embrace these changes. Don’t let your own comfort zone be a handicap for your children. If you want them to grow up and be successful functional members of society take advantage of computers, the internet, software, and the numerous programs that target kids and enrich the learning experience.
As homeschool parents we always seem to have something to prove. We are constantly scrutinized by people who think that we are not giving our kids to grade educations, do not let this be the downfall of homeschool. I urge you to take action.
I agree with this sentiment. We live in a technological world, and while I believe that old fashioned methods, values, and time-honored ways are important–I also feel that up&coming generations MUST be computer-literate (at least).
The resources available at the click of a mouse are vast, and I can’t fathom that so many homeschooling-parents wouldn’t want to take advantage of that for their kids’ benefit. Sure, you have to wade through to find quality resources, but that is true of most things in life. Why deprive children of all the benefits the Internet & computers can offer just because we’re fearful of what might happen? That would be akin to never using a car because you’re afraid of getting in an accident. But we all see the many benefits of driving a car, so we deal with those fears, buckle our kids in safely, and drive carefully.
Homeschoolers should do the same with technology. Buckle-up, and drive-carefully.